


Mouthy

by Shazkowalski



Series: The Trait Series [4]
Category: Homeland
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 09:48:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18258821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shazkowalski/pseuds/Shazkowalski
Summary: Carrie told Quinn he was pretty Mouthy for an analyst- what did he think of that? Part four of the Traits Series.Chapter Two posted 28/03/2019- now complete!





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I don't normally start any other stories in the midst of a multi chapter story- but I needed to rewatch some episodes to make sure I didn't go too far off canon (any excuse!!!) and watching' New Car Smell' made me focus on the other trait Quinn was accused of- being Mouthy!
> 
> Please leave me your thoughts on this- and don't forget to check out my other stories!!

Mouthy

Carrie watched her new colleague quietly as she stepped back through the door to their mini ops room. The interaction had gone as well as could be expected, although it had been strange to be in such close proximity to Brody after everything that had happened. 

“Pretty mouthy for an analyst” she stated as Quinn again cut straight to the point in his comments. She watched him as he walked away, clearly undistracted or unaffected by her comment. He simply shrugged as he headed over to the board.

The issue was he was right in what he said- she would love to rip Brody’s skin off for what he had done to her, but yet he still help some strange power over her that she found impossible to ignore. 

She sat back after the exchange with Quinn and watched him- he wasn’t afraid to say what he thought, but she couldn’t bring herself to take offence. He had clearly done his research, undoubtedly knew her background and her involvement in previous cases. She wondered where he had got all of his information from- a lot of the details he had clearly known was not noted in her file, not on the readily available one anyway. Yet more reason to doubt his job title as analyst, to know what he knew his clearance level had to be higher than that of an analyst. Hell it would be higher than hers given his self assurance that he knew facts. 

She sighed as she watched him sip from his coffee, he was a tall man, probably slightly younger than her. He had a slender but clearly muscular build and a sharpness in his eyes that told her he didn’t miss much. He had already shown that he knew his stuff- clearly knew how things operated around Langley, but yet she had never seen or heard of him before. 

She wondered if his brash way of speaking was a rouse, a way of trying to prove himself, but she shook her head. She didn’t think that was the case, he was too knowledgeable too quietly confident to have any need to do that- but he wasn’t an analyst of that she was sure.

CIA-CIA-CIA-CIA-CIA-CIA-CIA

Quinn sat back down and watched the screen in front of him, he sighed to himself. He knew that Carrie didn’t believe him for a second when he had claimed to be an analyst. No way had she fallen for that, and he had to be honest he didn’t really care. He knew he had come across as mouthy as she had pointed out- but he needed to create an impression from the very start that he wouldn’t be someone that Mathison could just push around and treat how she wanted. 

He had read between the lines on the previous cases, and he knew that she was used to getting her own way- but she also knew what she was doing, something that would be invaluable to him as this case developed, as long as he could attempt to control her. 

He looked up as she sat down beside him.

“So Venezuela huh?” she queried as she sipped at her own coffee.

“Yep” he responded without turning around. 

“I used to know a guy that worked the Cartels- Gary Kelsey, do you know him?” She asked, gauging his reaction with her sharp eyes.

“Never heard of him” Quinn replied, still not looking around. “I know Gary Hart and Kelsey Johnson though” he added, turning to face her with a grin. If she wanted to test him, then let her- but he was a thorough guy by nature and she wouldn’t catch him out that easily. Carrie smiled despite herself, he was a smart one she would give him that.

“You know for someone so mouthy when it comes to my private life you don’t have much to say about your own” she told him, and instantly knew she had hit a nerve without meaning to as he flinched. 

“I told you about mine already” he told her, his expression serious but his eyes duller than she was used to seeing. 

“Really? I must have missed that in-depth chat” she responded.

“Sure I did- the delightful Emily from the ER” he told her with a grin. She rolled her eyes involuntarily at the response. 

“Men are such pigs” she commented and he chuckled at her reaction. 

“Are you actually taking the moral high ground” he asked her with a quirked eye brow. She startled at his challenge, finding herself unusually speechless as she struggled to argue the case. He laughed at her reaction, knowing that he had got her. “Coffee?” he offered, an olive branch that he knew she would accept. She nodded and watched him as he moved to the filter pot and filled two cups. 

“How long since you finished your last assignment?” she asked him as she accepted the drink.

“Three days” he replied, the first sign of any tiredness showing in his voice.

“Really?” she queried in surprise. She was well aware that operatives usually had at least a week or two between intensive cases, to ensure that they were fully decompressed and focussed on the new job at hand.

“Yep” he confirmed, not saying anything else. 

“That’s unusual” she commented, waiting for him to elaborate. He simply shrugged his shoulders and drank his own coffee.

“I just go where the agency says” he muttered, and her ears pricked up at his words, there was a slight hint of bitterness at the comment, but also an edge of acceptance. She wondered if he had a family somewhere locally, or someone waiting for him at home. 

“Sucks sometimes doesn’t it” she stated with a small twist of her lips, he chuckled at the comment.

“Pays the bills” he reasoned, not that he had any bills to pay. He paid his rent months in advance, had no credit cards and no loans- just a rather large savings account, well several really across several banks in different states- just in case he needed to make a quick departure. 

The two operatives sat back in silence as they watched the screens and waited for the next move, Quinn knew he had been let off lightly, but he was also fairly certain there would be more questions to come. 

 

End Chapter One


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the reviews- please let me know what you think of this!

Chapter Two

Saul couldn’t argue with the newcomer- he was right Carrie had failed to do as she was told and it had now forced their hand into interrogating the terrorist rather than using him for the intelligence gathering that was desperately required. He couldn’t even fight her corner with Estes- she had completely disregarded everything that they had planned and everything she had been told to do and gone off down her own path as she always did. 

He sighed, he knew that they were lucky Estes hadn’t insisted on taking the Case Officer off the investigation- she would have got off lightly with just that. 

A few moments later he watched as Quinn slipped into the interrogation room armed with his laptop, Carrie sat beside him and the two watched in silence as the stranger worked. Saul had to admit he was impressed. Quinn clearly knew all of the details inside out, his confident but calm style resulting in Brody digging himself deeper into a World of lies that they could easily disprove. 

“He’s good” Saul commented, and Carrie nodded in agreement.

“Very good” she stated, almost grudgingly. Both operatives looked up as Quinn set the video footage playing on the laptop- negating just about everything that the former marine had said during the interview. 

The ‘analyst’ came out and was leaning against the desk drinking from a coffee as they all watched their captive viewing the footage.

An hour later and Quinn headed back in and Saul found himself watching in interest. The younger man was clearly gifted in this area of work, an air of confidence and grace around him despite the crumpled shirt and the circumstances that lead to him being there. 

Saul’s attention was piqued as suddenly there was a change of tone from the younger man, and he began to circle in a more predatory fashion. Saul physically jumped out of his seat as suddenly a knife was produced and the blade was through the hand of the marine. 

The team were in the room in the blink of an eye and Saul helped drag Quinn away, surprised by the change in the man the second he was through the door. He raised both his hands in a passive manner and moved across the room- carrying himself with a stealth that almost caught Saul by surprise. He watched as the operative leaned back against the desk the picture of calm and tranquillity, his eyes twinkling- but not with temper or anger. He certainly didn’t look like a man that had just had some sort of fit of temper and stabbed another uncontrollably. 

Saul turned his attention back to the screen as Carrie worked on Brody inside, knowing that the man behind was doing likewise. 

“That wasn’t temper was it, it was all theatre?” he finally challenged the other man, and received a grin in response.

“Every good cop needs a bad cop right?” Quinn replied with a shrug, not surprised that the other man had worked it out. Saul was an experienced operative and was not to be underestimated for a second. Saul shook his head, he really didn’t know what the make of Quinn. He appeared calm and methodical and he quite clearly knew what he was doing. He was also clearly unafraid to get his own hands dirty, which posed the question- what was his real role in the agency? 

“You done many interrogations?” Saul asked as the man behind him watched quietly.

“Yep, part of the job” Quinn replied, moving forward and sitting back in the desk chair beside Saul.

“Is that a play you have used before?” Saul queried, wondering where that would even come from. 

“Not exactly- maybe something similar” he responded with a shrug.

“To say how much Carrie said you talk you aren’t very chatty are you?” Saul challenged him.

“I talk when there is something to say” Quinn responded, he knew about Saul- his boss had told him all about him. He respected the older man and everything that he had achieved, not to mention all of the sacrifices he must have made to have had such a long standing career in the Agency. 

Saul sighed at that response, he knew he wasn’t going to get anything from Quinn- the man was clearly a professional through and through- hell he had to be if Estes had assigned him this job personally. He couldn’t help but feel uneasy about where the other man had come from and why- there were plenty of analysts that worked at Langley that he was familiar with and had worked with a multitude of times, so why on Earth had Estes brought his own guy in if that was his pure job role?

“You been an analyst the last ten years?” Saul asked, not giving in just yet.

“Yep- worked my way round and up” Quinn replied. 

“What were you working on with the Cartels?” he asked, as the interrogation room remained quiet. 

“That’s classified” Quinn replied, not even looking away from the screen and taking the older man by surprise. 

“Classified huh?” 

“Yep- nothing interesting anyway” Quinn added, but the very fact he couldn’t tell Saul made it more interesting to him and he made a mental note to do some more digging into that later. The two men looked up as Carrie stepped out of the room, leaving Brody for a break as she came. 

CIA-CIA-CIA-CIA-CIA-CIA-CIA

“You two have a good chat?” Carrie asked Saul later that evening.

“Scintillating” Saul responded with a roll of his eyes. “The guy just doesn’t reveal anything” 

“I have asked Virgil and Max to look into him” Carrie told him and he nodded, unsurprised by the revelation. 

“Let’s see what they come back with” he stated with a sigh. “Do you trust him?” he asked. 

“I don’t know- he seems genuine in his nature and he is good at this- but there is no way on earth he is an analyst” Carrie stated. Saul nodded in agreement, that was his findings too- it was just where they went from here. 

CIA-CIA-CIA-CIA-CIA-CIA-CIA

Quinn sighed as he sipped at his whisky. He was tired and he was finding it tougher than it should be to maintain the story of being an analyst. He was an outsider stepping in to an established team and they didn’t trust him. That didn’t bother him, he was used to it after all- but it did make it harder for this to work.

He was actually quite enjoying being part of the team, he was used to it in his true role but in a very different way. It was a different dynamic, and it was a welcome break for him. He was exhausted from his last case, and he was pretty sure his boss had known it. He had welcomed the opportunity of playing analyst as a way of clearing his mind. He laughed at his own thoughts- any reasonable person would consider him absolutely insane for considering chasing an international terrorist as a relaxing exercise, but after he had spent the last six months hiding in hell holes and stalking his prey this was a treat. He finished his whiskey and got to his feet, before heading out to his latest rental. 

He smiled as he walked through the bustling streets. Carrie had called him mouthy- he had never been accused of that before, usually women complained that he didn’t express himself enough. She was certainly a different one he would have to give her that. In different circumstances he could imagine them being good friends, it was a shame he was ultimately going to be responsible for breaking her heart- but that was the nature of the game.

The End


End file.
